KCSD Board of Education Meeting 5/6/26

001Now we're going to try Where are you going? >> Jonathan just called me. Want me to go? >> Good evening. >> No. Welcome to the board of education meeting on this May 6th. The board has returned from executive session. I would ask the clerk to please call the role. >> Miss Anderson >> here. Dr. Collins >> here. >> Miss >> here. Miss >> here. >> Mr. Lamb >> here. >> Mr. Ryder >> here. >> Mr. Spicer >> here. >> Miss Collier >> here. Mr. J >> here. If we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> This meeting begins with the public budget presentation. I will turn

002the mic over to Dr. Pino and Miss Carp. >> Good evening. Um, M. Carbon will give a brief presentation for our public budget hearing and there is opportunity for question and answer if people have questions about this presentation. But after that when the board reconvenes, there will be there will be time for public participation also. Good evening. Can everyone hear me? >> Okay, let me change the choice myself. As you all aware, this is our budget hearing where the budget that was adopted for by board of education will be presented. Spoiler alert, there are many slides, but I find that for this conversation, we have so many layers, visuals will help the conversation. So, at this point this year, we have an intersection of three critical challenges. None of them are brand new, but the

003timing in this moment and the impact of them have been significant. We have declining student enrollment which you will see data on which has been ongoing and we all know that enrollment has been sliding down but we've declined more than many of us realize. At the same time, our state aid, which used to be about maybe almost half of our fundings, has been significantly reduced over the past, this is our second budget season under a new formula that has changed drastically. And then finally, which we are all very familiar with, significant cost increase just to provide services and operate our district. So just leading with what we're doing, our student investments, instructional supports and operations. So this is of course not everything we do, but these are some of the priorities that we remain focused

004on to fulfill our mission to educate all students all the time. Small class sizes relative to defining enrollment trends. Mult pathways for graduation. Robust music and art. Social emotional support for all of our students. Bilingual education program and exit in district universal prek. One problem for all of our students. Transportation for 5600 students across just under 100 square miles. investments for students K through 8 in math, investments in reading, professional development for our faculty and staff, and the operation and maintenance of our facilities. We have 11 buildings and a million square feet. So, first tackling and looking at the decline in enrollment. This chart, and please excuse me if I'm in your way, gives us a graphic of our enrollment from the 1920 school year, which just as a a landmark is the same year

005uh of the COVID pandemic hitting us through 2526. And as you can see, we're in a sharp decline. Currently, our district has 870 fewer students than we did seven years ago. Looking at enrollment, just to give a sn snapshot and this presentation will be posted on the website for further reference because there's a lot of information packed here. We have a snapshot starting with the 1920 school year at the bottom. Elementary enrollment by school with a district district totals of 2378 students in the 1920 school year. over here. >> This year >> we're at 2153 which is 225 fewer students on the elementary level. Our projections for next year have a decline of another 95 students for a total of 258 students in our elementary levels K4 across our seven buildings. So just a pictorial

006of the information I shared by grade. So this difference of 320 students that's the equivalent in population of one of our elementary school buildings. We have kindergarten each grade level showing in blue where we were in 1920 where we are in the 2526 school year and in purple our projections for next year. Average class sizes in the 1920 school year. Our district average class sizes were 22 students for kindergarten, 21 for first grade, 19 for second grade, 20 for third grade, and 24 for fourth grade. 7 years ago. Currently this year, 17 students in kindergarten on average districtwide. 20 students in first grade, 19 in second grade, 20 in third grade, and 21 in fourth grade. Districtwide and average across our seven buildings. Next year's projection, 16 average class size district wide for kindergarten, 19

007for first and second, and third grade, and 20 in fourth grade. Still small class sizes. So now looking at the middle level, we have 233 fewer students this year than we did in 1920. So in the 1920 school year, we were at 1969 in our two middle schools. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, the 2019. I'm sorry. I'm Please forgive me. I'm speaking in finance uh shortand. I'm so sorry. in the 2019 2020 school year. Thank you all very much because I need to be clear because if I'm not clear in what I present, it does us no good. So, thank you. So, now in grades five, we're at 483, grade 6, 509, grade 7, 485, grade 8, 480, and 12 ungraded students. This is in the 2019 2020 school year. This year we're at 427

008in grade 5, 434 in grade 6, 413 in grade 7, 458 in grade 8, and four grade students. And the cumulative brings us to the 233 students right now in our middle school buildings. >> And this just gives us a snapshot of the data by middle school. Jay Watson Bailey currently has approximately 910 students and Miller has 826 students. In the 2019 2020 school year, Bailey had 1,094 students. Miller had 875 students. So Bailey has seen a decrease in 184 students in this time frame with Miller seeing a decline of 49 students. And now KHS right now the high school has 270 fewer students than in the 2019 2020 school year. And this I did not break it down by grade level but just showing total enrollment in the high school. And we can see

009this sharp decline and gra it would well it wasn't so gradual. These numbers in white show the year-to-year decrease. 50 students, 11 students, 36 students, 37 students. So it was a slide. We had a sharp decline from 2019 2020 co to returning back to school in 2020 2021. But from there it was a little more gradual because this is across the building. But the cumulative effect is really a compounding effect. And now in the 20 24 2025 school year, the high school lost 71 students and this year there are another 65 fewer students. So those numbers by themselves don't sound terrible to many people, but when we look at the cumulative impact, it matters. So these are the same investments and priorities that I spoke on our opening slide, just bringing us back to a

010reminder because when we see all this data and all the numbers, it's easy to slide away from why we're all here. Our proposed budget summary that's been adopted. This current budget 249,522,500. Our tax levy was $125,791,600. This year, our proposed budget is 258,79,830, which is a 3.4% 4% increase and an increase of say $8.6 million. Our tax levy this year will be 130 million 5800 excuse me $77,575 which is a 4.04% increase and we didn't have to in order to balance this budget and give us time to make further assessments and realignments. We allocated fund balance and reserves. So, we are budgeting $3.5 million in allocated fund balance or assigned fund balance. We're allocating half million, $500,000 from our debt service reserve or debt service fund, excuse me, and then our other reserve allocations to

011a total of $8.1 million. What this does is it gives us the gift of time which we need because the same way this is a a layered multiaceted issue that we're dealing with the solution is multi-year. Many of you may not have seen the presentations that we had last year during budget season but I did identify while we were allocated a significant amount of fun reserves last year as well. We needed to give the time because our challenge our challenges are numerous but we want to be mindful. We need to be mindful of programming of our students, of our faculty, staff, and our community. So last year, our set was step one in a multi-year pro process. To fill the budget, we did allocate reserves and fund balance. There were also reductions enforced that thankfully

012were able to cover nutrition. This is step two and year two. And in my earlier presentations, one of the things I said that we as a team, as a district have to do in order to move forward is reimagine, literally reimagine how we carry out our mission, how we gradu graduate all students, how we educate, how we inspire all of our students all the time because we are a different district. Our revenue budget, our property tax revenues, I just explained, they make up about 51.4% 4% of our total revenue budget. Miscellaneous revenues are just shy of $3 million. Interested in income $2.5 million as interest rates are still high and projected to be so. State aid is anticipated. We still do not have an enacted New York state budget. That is a serious problem when

013you're trying to put together a budget and forecast how to fund the mission of our district. But our state aid projection is just under $18 million. And then fund balance and reserves alloc allocation are $12.1 million just rounding up. Just to give you a snapshot of where the changes have happened for the 8.5 or $8.6 million state increase $2.8 8 million other than co I don't recall this district having anyone who has not worked here I'm a community member I don't recall an increase that low we'll talk about that a little bit later our tax levy increase is just under $5.1 million interest income increase of $850,000 and other miscellaneous revenue changes netted a decrease of about $200,000 bringing us our total revenue increase of 8.55 57 million or $8,557,330. This graphic, I just want

014to give you a visual about our revenues. And if you look at the slices, primarily the purple, which is our state aid revenues of 42% of our total revenues and our property tax revenues. Over previous years, our fund balance reserve allocations have been much lower in total. interest income and miscellaneous revenues slightly higher but never very high. What has been a significant shift is the comparison of state aid revenues that that portion and the tax levy used to be closer to 50/50 with more coming from state aid actually than um than our property tax revenue. Things have shifted drastically with the reduction in our state aid. our tax cap calculation. It's long, it is convoluted, but there are five key factors that you need to understand. We don't count, we run the calculations, but we

015don't just make it up. It's a very convoluted calculation, but the highlights our current year tax levy where we leave off this year is where we start next year. The tax based growth factor that's set by New York State property tax, it's a set for each individual school district and municipality. based on the activity in in that community CPI or inflation. This is the only place you will see 2%. I understand it's always called it's often called I'll say a 2% um tax cap. It is not. What's cap is the inflation factor. So inflation could be 6%. The most that we could factor in for our budget is 2%. So this is the 2%. pilot payments and what are called exclusions. And basically exclusions are the amount of the tax levy that is funding our

016capital projects and retirement if it's ever a factor. It rarely ever is. This for anyone who wants to look at the presentation online is our concrete calculation 2025 and the projection for 2026 27. Just one note about our property tax cap. This district has always been very mindful of the taxpayers and the tax base and what the community can bear and it is a constant conversation and consideration. I spoke earlier about enrollment about a compound effect that same compound effect because it's a principle it also applies financially here in that same period. So at the 2020 2021 property tax year the district levied the 0% increase understanding the economic situation of our community understanding that it quote unquote leaves money on the table in future years. What we really didn't realize the effect of until

017we went back and looked at it and calculated it was how much that compound effect matters. Primarily driven by that tax base growth factor that I mentioned earlier. But the district left say just under the $3 million on the table so to speak if you add up the number of years we went below the maximum allowable levy. But that actual impact turns out to be $14.5 million. proper decisions were made. This is just information as we're moving forward. State a revenues. There are five main categories for Houston City School District with our state aid. So that 42% that you saw earlier, most of it is foundation aid based on enrollment and the number of factors and then the probability calculation. But at the end of the day, enrollment, the wealth factors or how wealthy a

018community or school district looks factors into those ratios and various factors for student population um student population, specific student populations. Transportation aid, the reimbursement we get based on what we spend for transportation. special education services and then reimbursement, boseis aid, and building aid. Building aid is reimbursement for the money that we borrow or that we actually spend whether we borrowed or not for our capital projects. These last four categories are called expense based aids because they're reimbursements based on what we spent the previous year. This matters because of what I'm going to share with you next. So this is just a graphic of what those categories how they factor out. So you see foundation aid is 65% of our state aid revenue maybe about 25% or so of our total revenues. Building aid is 9%.

019Transportation aid 10%. Special education services 7%. Same for Bosey's aid and all other aid categories are much smaller. Textbooks, library services, things of that nature come to about 2%. So when you hear us talking about foundation 8 and how would we need to talk to our representatives and our state leaders about what's going on with the community, it matters significantly because for Houston City School District and other districts like ours, it is a significant portion of our revenues. And even with declining enrollment, our students still have needs that have to be met. We still have contractual obligations. We still have facilities to run. Our expense budget, our primary expense drivers, as you would imagine, staff salaries, employee benefits being the greatest, over 70%. Transportation, as you all most of you are aware, we have increased

020significantly over the past several years in how much we're spending to transport our service our students. part of it, the bus driver shortage. When we came out of CO, many contractors needed to recalibrate what they were paying their drivers because they had to build the shortage that then carries over into the customers being us. Then our needs and our the number of students that we transport out of district and then our in district needs also grew as well. So then to make our system work the best that that we could, you'll see later over the past several years, our transportation budget has increased significantly. Cost to support students with disabilities, debt service, excuse me, instructional expenses, textbook equipment, supplies, and operation and maintenance. So to the conversation I just started about transportation and our students

021with special needs. We spend currently approximately $25 million in tuition costs for our students that we send out of the district to meet their needs. Transportation both in district and out of district. As you can see that's in the blue. In the 2019 2020 school year, we were about $6 million. Keeping in mind that we've been shut down threequarters of the way in. I would imagine if we had run the full year, it would be about $8 million. And in 2020, 2021, we were at just under $8.6 million. But now, fast forward the 22 2023 school year. We had service issues that we had to address. We needed additional buses. Another jump. The following year, we had to go out. We had not been out before, bid or ask for proposals for cost in a

022number of years. And we saw a significant cost increase with our contractor partners feeling their bus driver shortages and increasing their wages for their drivers, which they need to do to keep them. We were at $14.1 million two years ago, just under $16 million in 2024 25 and basically $19 million for transportation this year. And if you look at our special education out of district tuition, which is this orange bar that you see going up, these are our tuitions starting at $17 million in the 2019 2020 school year, steadily increasing to our projection at June 30th is just under $25 million. This graph, bear with me, there's a lot here. You can go back and unpack it, but I want to give you just a synopsis. These stand color codings. Orange is special education. Blue

023is transportation. Purple is both season. These are the expense based state aid categories that I just told you about. So what we get back is based on what we spend plus the reimbursement factor that the state has. This green represents those. They're called a ratios. So our reimbursement rates are reflected in this green. So while our costs were rising, our reimbursement rates here were steady for a while and then by 2024 we had a significant shift. 25 26 this year even greater. There were categories where we saw a 5% drop in one year. I have not seen that in my 15 year career and now they are still declining. The primary reason for that we have declined enrollment and that does affect it. But even more so because of our real estate values and our

024assessments in our area and our school district boundaries. We appear on paper not just our homes but actually at the state level we look wealthier than we really are. We're in another category that we are no longer with the same level of needs. But in terms of those reimbursement rates, they have sharply declined because of this and they're still trending downward. So as we still have to spend to support our students, our reimbursements have taken the slide down, which is the revenue we need to support this. So when I make the comment and the statement that we have to reimagine because many people in this room or people that we know or related to or care about have been with this district for a very long time and it's hard to be faced with the

025fact that we have to reimagine rethink how we do what we do every day that we've done so well for so long but we are a different district demographically. who we are in terms of our commitment to our students, to one another, that hasn't changed, but certain things we do have to think through and creatively imagine. So, this isn't just words beyond giving you think differently about how we're going to do it. And that process has already started behind the scenes in terms of transportation, certain aspects of operation. But we have to continue to work in order to get to where we need to go to balance our mission and our current financial situation, but also balancing that enrollment piece because our current enrollment is a real factor. But there is a balance that we

026can find together. It's just a multi-year process, a challenging process. Absolutely. So our major changes expenses, a slight decrease in salaries of $200,000. Employee benefits increased $1.2 million. And I just want to speak to this for one moment. We were fortunate this year because many districts, businesses as well. I'm sure most of us, if not all of us, have heard about rising health care costs and those premiums. When we were preparing our rollover budget at the time, the projection that I had before me for our employee benefit for the blind share was 15%. Thankfully, since then, it's come down. Thankfully, our teachers union has worked with us to help navigate this as well, but it's a significant fact of life and consideration. Our debt service due to our capital project $7 million. Transportation increase $28,000.

027But compared to the increases that you've seen over the past several years, that's a very small increase. And that's another example of reimagining. There has been there have been many conversations and scenarios looking at how we can still transport our students safely and in a timely manner to school, but still balance those rising costs. and minimize special education tuition, a reduction of $1.8 million. We are working on bringing more of our students back in district where we can support them. Of course, with the promise in place to do so. Other contractual expenses, $232,000 for our total expense increase is $8.6. I'm winding down, I promise. This picture is our tax levy changes from 201819 2018 2019 excuse me to the 26 2027 budget. In the lavender you'll see our tax levy increases. In the purple

028you'll see our budget changes and that diamond shows the tax levy limit. So several years ago our tax levies our maximum allowable levies were smaller. Our budget increases were smaller as well. were below the limit. We also had no foundation aid or state aid coming in to balance things out. And over the course of time, there have been shifts. 2023 2024, that year is the first year and only year that state the foundation aid formula was fully funded according to law and Kansas City School District and other districts like ours saw a significant increase. But then we also thought that we were at a place where we could forecast future revenues because now the formula had finally been fully funded the following years when the formula changed very drastically as well as our status. So

029now we have 2024 2025 the current year that we're sitting in and our next year. Our budget vote is Tuesday, May 19th. Our website details for various locations. What if the budget does not pass on May 19th? Every district not just kickstart any school district has three options. There's a revote on June 16th. Those three options revise the budget to present a revised budget for revote for June 16th. proposed the exact same budget on June 16th and move to a contingency budget. What is budget? There are very specific prescribed rules and regulations around what districts can and cannot do, what we are allowed to spend under a contingency budget. the authority teacher salaries and what's called ordinary contingent expenses bas basically required expenses mission critical contractual expenses non-mandated programs could be impacted the tax levy

030under contingent budget there is no increase allowed so our tax levy would be the same $125,791,600 that it is for this year but what that means is our budget would be reduced by 5 million $85,000 and $900. Administrative spending would be capped at the priority of this year, which is a very small change, but that is another um impact. Community use of our facilities only allowed if the district is fully reimbursed for all expenses related to releasing the space. And transportation, only legally mandated transportation would be allowed. in our next slide. What does all that mean? Non-mandated programs examples. And there are programs that are not required by New York state law. I was surprised when I learned years ago kindergarten is not mandated. So in Kansas City school district it in includes prek kindergarten

031athletics music the arts extracurricular programs AP advanced honors classes other programs like that that are required by New York state law transportation and mandated services. What does that mean? What it means is we're mandated to transport students from home to school back home at regular dismissal within the prescribed mileage rates or mileage radiuses radi uh which is a mile and a half for high school for secondary and a half mile for elementary. Anything below that not mandated. We would not be transporting. after school transportation not mandated things like athletics so on and so forth administrative spending that spending that's what supports distribution financial management our requirements human resources legal uh central office operations and systemwide planning and reporting and then we've already spoken about the use of the facilities those costs would be things like

032overtime that would be incurred fraction and possibly of the utilities and also security coverage if the event requires security. As you all know, our our buildings are open very often in the evening. We don't make money off of that and that's absolutely fine, but just want to highlight what happens under contingent budget. The last thing that I want to share and I apologize because that is the one graphic that I um left out of this presentation. I spoke about our changes in state aid over the years. When I look back to the 2019 2020 school year, our state aid, our foundation aid specifically increases. They increased significantly year-over-year 5% 7% 9%. We even I don't want to you can say over 10%. They climbed until 2023, 2024 when the form was fully funded. That increase

033was $7 million. I remember very clearly because my mind was blown. And then we dropped down to the minimum increase, which was 2%. 2% at the time was just about a million dollars. This year's executive budget had a 1% foundation aid increase. That is $700,000. Actually, not even $700,000. $688,000. It is anticipated that when the budget finally does pass, many people do anticipate foundation aid being at least the two uh 2% minimum like last year, which would be 1.3 just under $1.4 million. But that is a significant change year-over-year in a critical component of our revenues. So these are the numerous facets that we are dealing with. We have been looking at we've started a long range uh plan on how we move forward. Part of that had to be paused uh once the formula

034is changing to then revise it. When this budget passes we'll have more information because thankfully there have been proposals in what's called the one house budget. the assembly and the senate for the state came to come come together every year and do that one house proposal. That proposal does put forth um priorities that would give us more weight that would increase our aid appropriately because we do serve students with higher needs. But we don't know what that is yet. So these are uh this is our budget that's been adopted. But these are also more importantly the the factors that we're looking at and the reasons why we do have to reimagine and mindfully move forward so that we can maintain our programs which we have maintained for the past two years despite our financial situation

035but also make sure that our finances remain on the sure footed but that also we're appropriately um situated for our student uh enrollment changes. Thank you. So, as I said, if there are specific questions for describing ourselves on this presentation, we can do our best to answer them right now, but there will be opportunity for public uh comment as soon as the court returns to the to the stage. Miss don't know what >> Yeah. So the conversation is about what is getting cut and right now that decision hasn't made been completely made. We continue to work on where we are with the budget and where we're cutting spending and finding our ways. I know many people are here because the story that there's 59 teachers being laid off tonight. Tonight there will be zero teachers

036laid off. There was teachers given their initial notification at the beginning of last week, but still the board has not abolished any positions and we continue to work to save as many businesses as we can. So between now and next week, next between now and the 20th, we will have a more solid feeling of exactly what's being cut and what moves we need to make. Sure. >> Just speaking to some of the non-staffing cuts that have been made. For example, I I made mention of the number of students that we send out of district. There are students being brought back in the district, which is a significant savings. And we do have staff to support building supports. Operationally, we have broken apart budgets on all levels and rebuilt them based on needs and trends. looking

037through things like our services that we purchase. What can we do differently? What can we do without finding savings in those areas? So, we've looked at every area, leverage transportation. Um, our transportation director has been working various scenarios with transportation to find creative ways to still maintain service but uh save as much money as possible. So, those are additional efforts aside from staffing that have been made in terms of savings in area we were able to close the gap before applying fund balance for reserves >> have a community group with the individuals >> oh to the community but we have a board meeting between now and then we also will communicate through our usual communications you know our our Facebook pages our email blasts our text blasts and our I'm sorry. >> That's a great

038question. I think it's it's a combination of things and I think some some that you mentioned, but also I think it's part of the housing crisis here in in our community. So, you know, the housing is becoming less affordable. We have a a tremendous inmigration into the city into our community to holster county in general and a lot of those people that are coming are not repopulating our schools. And a few weeks ago that the Freeman actually got an excellent article out of a study that was done by the progress which comes out of town by Newberg showing that the majority of people who have that Olster County is the only county in New York state had an increase in population over the since co but the increase in that population was basically people over

03950 and with six figure incomes. So we're not talking about people who are coming and buying homes and populating our schools. they're coming in buying homes whether it's a retirement home or whether it's it's a rental home or Airbnb thing. I think that's part part of the issue as well which again drives our property costs our property values up which impacts our budget >> a lot today was exactly what we needed to see but a lot of the focus was on things that we can't hold and I think a lot of us who are here are really interested in the parts that we can control and what we're going to do going forward given this financial situation. Um the budget itself was not really presented. It was just one one very high level slide on

040that and we should have had more information about the budget up. So for those of us and especially since today there is a budget We need to have time to review the actual budget itself. It was only put up on the website today. I've been trying since Friday to get a hold of that information. So, in addition to now needing to scramble to find how that decision about how we're going to make it or not. And you there may be some of us who want to know more information about specific line items. For example, I'm interested in technology investments that we've made and where those show up in the budget. Which line items are under whether that's under a budget or not. Given the timeline that we're dealing with right now and the lack of

041information that the public has, what can be done to create more time for us to find answers about these questions? Well, I think one of the good answers to that question is let's get a state of time. That is one step. That is a good answer to this. >> And and our line by line budget is available on our website right now. Statutoily. It was supposed to be there by today. It's been there. It's there today. It's thousands upon thousands of lines. I understand that. But we've had we've had a budget presentation every meeting for the last five meetings. So, we've done our best to be out here letting people know where we are, where we're going, and and how we're going to get there. Not a good answer. >> Thank you, >> Mr. D.

042The administration is 21,156,000. Your salary alone you're talking,000 hospital. that we need to find people to draw a stop. That's right. I'll tell you right now, you want to write my name on that. I will knock it up. >> And by the way, another room out of the other room, not public speaking, you're not even allowed to get a response from the board during a meeting. Time's about three minutes next speaker. Never heard from you guys again. You need a real question. >> Yes. >> My concern is about special education uh pulling kids back from shooting them out. They've got 504s. They have they very specific needs and you're saying you're going to bring them back in house. Some of them at oneon one, some of them at one. How do you plan on cutting

043that number of teachers and teacher aids without affecting all these kids who by state law must have those combinations? >> Yeah, I think that's I think that's a really good part. That's an excellent point and that's part of our process that if we if we can bring our students back into our district, students with needs and use our employees to provide those services for those students, those are those are those are jobs that stay right here in the Kingston City School District, not at private outside of the district, not at here in our district. So we we define and develop programs, bring in the proper supports and be able to keep them here in our district. >> Yeah. Right. way in the back. >> The numbers of enrollment declined, does that take into account the

044students that have been sent out of district? >> Yes. >> So that number of like 71 lost in that one year that represents the fact that we sent a number of students out of district. >> Yes. >> So then they're just coming back. So they're really not a loss of population. >> Oh, sorry. No, those are all in. So that's all in >> that's our total enrollment including our district placements >> and the projected enrollment for next year. >> What like for the kindergarten level? What is that number based off? >> We've really been and you know it's a difficult number for us to grab a hold of because we don't have great information except for our prek program. use that. We tend to use our enrollment projections for kindergarten as what they were last

045year >> because this would be the year that the co babies of 2020 2021 are starting kindergarten. So there should be a I'd say a rather sizable bump in So that changes the entire >> So one of the things you mentioned I actually didn't realize we were spending that much money on out of so if I understand correctly that would be like a cumulative savings over time to build out those services here. >> Yes. like you would utilize the money that we would be saving year after year, >> correct? >> To have more supportive services in our district, >> right? Keeping our students in our district, declining or reducing our transportation cost, which again transport transporting students to these programs costing unbelievable amount of money. So, and keeping our teachers and our teachers assistants and

046all our support staff employed here at Kingston City School. >> And I I do think that's a really interesting idea. I'd like to hear more about it as it develops. But I think that would be a really good thing. >> Transportation not not for kids going out of just a survey. This is clearly part of the presentation. There was a digital and this is a digital survey sent out a couple months ago about um would your family be opting into transportation? There's a bit of a word. There was a disclaimer under it that said transportation will only be provided if you stop it. I guess you complete the survey. Um I did but on behalf of people that might not possess the technology to receive let that survey is that an attempt to cut gratification

047cost. >> We did people not getting >> we removed that disclaimer after Dar was up there. So if anyone didn't fill out that that survey, you still will receive transportation to the school district. Really was an attempt for us to get a handle on some data. So what you anyone who works in our schools or if you you stand out in the parking lot or anywhere you are in the road, you see empty school buses driving by. I go to Kingston High School and I see school buses pull up and seven, eight kids get out of a 73 passenger bus. So we were just trying to get a better idea of what our what our transportation usage is and could we then reduce the number of the amount of equipment we had on the road

048that would then reduce our cost. Could we make our routs shorter? Could we have our bus stops closer to home? Could we do a different very different, you know, structure of how we provide transportation knowing that when I pull up to Bailey Middle School, I can't get near the middle the school because there's so many people are driving their student to school. So if I can reduce those buses, that reduces that cost and makes it just overall more efficient and then and really better better experience for your student being on that bus maybe for fewer for less time. >> I feel like we hired a bunch of staff knowing that that money wasn't continent differently. Yeah, we did make the decision to to spend some of our you know our co money on people um

049because as you're all saying many people here have already said that who that's who has the biggest impact on our students. So yes, we could have bought computers or we could have done other things, but we did invest in people. And also at that same time when this was all happening, as you saw in the chart that Miss Carvin put up, at that same time, our our state aid had finally been been, you know, the foundation a found been fully funded. So our aid was going like this. And while that money was coming down, our aid was going like this. And we felt pretty strongly at the time. And I think if the if that trajectory had continued with the aid, we would have been right that we would be able to cover having those

050extra people in our district supporting our students that we funded with the with the co money. Then we saw that rapid decline in our in our foundation and in our state aid. And again, I think I need to point out that when showed about the expense-based aids, when you look at the reduction in our foundation aid combined with our expense-based aids, it's a we we don't even have that number up there. But when you take a $20 million, $18 million expense in transportation and you go from 61% to 55%. That's a massive hit. But to answer your question, that's that's why we thought with our aid going up and that money but we knew that money was coming down, we would meet in the middle and we would be able to continue to provide those

051services and and pay for those people that were in our district. >> Yes. >> I just want to add to that question which is an excellent question to just piggy back on what Dr. shared. It's that same exact budget from the 2020 23 2023 budget when it was enacted fully funding which legally by court order was anticipated to be our level it was communicated that oh by the way the formula is going to change. So there was no seeing it coming. So in terms of planning there was planning and there was a plan was actually I had uh begun a long range financial plan based on the information we had funding co money it all had to be table because the whole formula is changing and it's actually still evolving now that we have a

052significant reduction certain factors completely changed and now legislators are advocating and lobbying for there to be and communities also are advocating for appropriate adjustments to be made so that the formula funds what districts currently actually have to to maneuver in terms of supporting our students and who we have to educate. So I just wanted to add that about the timing the same time we were fully funded was the same time by the way the formula is changing forward and it was that next budget after we saw the 5% decrease in our reimbursement rates. So repetition low that change of five or five basis points is a million dollars in lost revenue that nobody can see coming. >> Um so I'm just wondering if we're talking about bringing special education students back into the district for

053that same time cutting TAS. So the ICT classes who have several behaviors I've seen firsthand where the TI has 17 students out of the classroom during presentations where parents have been there and they deal with the behavior. So are the TAs going to be taken out of the ICT classes now so that the primary teacher is left to not only try to teach the children but also deal with behaviors or is the principal going to be readily available where a walkie-talkie should be able to deal with the behaviors or is each school going to have a behavioral specialist? I just think and with cutting 40% of a reading program, that's putting an awful lot on the teachers to have to deal with in such a confined space with no help whatsoever. I mean, I've seen

054TAS, my son has been in an ICT class almost all four years of his elementary career so far, and the TAs are topn equal to the teachers in every aspect of that classroom. And to say we're going to cut the TAs, but when you guys don't have substitutes to fill in for the teachers when they fill out, who teaches the class that day? The TAs. >> as I said, there are no staff cuts on the voters agenda for tonight. We are still working that process through. So there's so your your question is a good one and no, we're not going to bring back school uh classes into our school building and take supports away from other classes that need them. We will that's where that's kind of how we're looking at our our staffing issue

055right now is if we can bring those those classes back, then there are cuts that maybe we thought need that don't need to be made. So if you're bringing special ed back that would actually because they need so many TAs in that test >> that would be that could be an increase but it would also be a huge district. So that would offset >> and our students would be here in our buildings. >> Yes. >> You say that staff staff and your teachers are the most valuable part of the education system for the students. Why was it proposed that you were going to cut all those jobs in particular? We'll say reading like later said TAs and stuff like that and how are you planning on giving proper support to students that need that assistance

056and that type of help. >> Yeah. Well, like I said, the most of the ideas around things that we had to do were around attrition with when we had with with uh retirements. We've also asked we've also extended the retirement incentive with our teachers and we'd like to see if we could make more attrition with that. But my point is looking at the decreased enrollment and the number of staff we have. I want to be clear. I mean the headline in the paper may have said 59 teachers were being eliminated. First of all, that was a preliminary number brought up in a board meeting. Right now we do not we do not project seeing 59 total staff that were could possibly be part of production. So right now the layout the the notifications only I

057mean only went to our KTF members and that was because requirements that we have right there was no there was no um information sent to any of our our staff as far as our support staff and again we continue to work to bring those numbers down. So we thought we would have 16 layoffs over the last couple days we're down to 14 layoffs. We continue to work to bring that number down. So, so just a follow up on that because you you say that nothing's finalized yet, which I understand, but the teachers and the staff were notified, but you still didn't answer how and and nothing is finalized. But how would these students, if these staff cuts are made, these students with extra needs, how are they going to get that support? How are they

058going to get it? We're not we're not looking at making any changes where there are intensive needs for our students. If you're talking about the special ed classes coming back or even if you're talking about the reading teachers or whatever, we've already we've already been able to find a way to bring back all three of our reading teachers. All of you reading special needs all of them aren't reading teachers. They're dual certified. So they're classroom but not as teachers. Right? So that's a that's kind of a >> No, it's not. It's five, but three. So I said three, >> right? They're not coming back as meeting. >> No backing teachers. We understand that the 59 and again we're not firing people. We are concerned that there are 59 jobs that our schools depend on to

059teach our students that are not being rebuilt. I work as a permanent at school. We have lost two faculty members to retirement in the last six years and we are struggling. It is not okay to just say but we're not firing these people. It is also important that you are not replacing retirement. Our students need these supports. They need literary literacy specialists. In the United States, literacy is on a steep decline. That is in large part due to technology and our reliance on technology. Our teachers already using a lot of class when students should be reading and writing by hand. I work again at the college level and I know students who cannot read a fourpage article in a popular magazine. We need to invest more in specialist literacy specialists not fund it or move

060people around to different positions. This is just not the answer. We need to find other places such as administrative salaries and teach all of these children to read. >> We will not understaff our buildings. Yes, that's my response. How did that process together? Who talks? already department and I think understand. I just think that >> Well, I think it's it was clear in Mr. Carver's presentation really. >> Sure. The question was how did we come to the conclusion of whether or not there's going to be staff decreases or all the decreases in in expenditures? Yeah. >> Yeah. And we just like just like we look at whether or not we have, you know, 10 kindergarten sections running or we have eight. We look at the number of students that are being served. We look at

061their decrease in enrollment and enrollment has decreased by 14% in the last six years. Right? So we look at a decrease in enrollment of that in that and decreasing there has to be a corresponding decrease in other areas. So that's how so if you have if you have 50 kindergarteners and you have 40 the next year, you still have two classes. If you have 30 the next year or 20 the next year, you reduce those sections. >> Looking at the total the total number of service students need service in that department. >> Yes. But the idea of that truly is that what are student as a high school teacher? in a very small classific. >> Yeah. Well, our our business looking at, you know, individual education plans, seeing where those can can fit properly into

062our buildings. There are some students who are in out of district places who we know we cannot we we don't have the we're not going to have the ability to service. I'm not saying every single student who's out of district is coming back. We're looking at at the students that we think would fit into our school buildings would mesh with that community and we could that we can support as well. So we're looking at each individual IP of the students the classes that we want to visit that we think we could bring back into our buildings. I know that a lot a lot of work has been going into this to reimagine the whole idea of our school budget, but I've been a little bit lost on what's going on with how we can protect

063these teacher jobs. Like I know that nothing is set in stone and that things are still in motion, but could you please clarify a little bit more on what you are doing to help protect these jobs? That's a great question from our student board member. The again we've been looking under we've been looking under every rock again working together with the Kingston teachers federation. We are extending I said we're extending the retirement incentive. We are we've we've cut area other areas of the budget that we've that you know so let me give you an example. Technology people thought about technology. in a cycle of of re re-uping our technology when it gets to a certain age. So, at the administrative level, we've cut that out. We're not going to recycle that. We're that's not going

064to happen. So, that money was going to be able to put back into into the district. We're also reimagining how we're how we're spending our money on our grants. So, when we look at our title one grants, our IDA grants, our school improvement grants, how can we use those kind of letters, those grants more effectively to make sure that we're using them on people. So those are kind of things that we've been looking at among so many other areas and just pulling money wherever we have to try to stay. >> So just to clarify um you are still this is an active measure you're still taking to try to protect these jobs. >> Correct. You still >> correct? >> Okay. >> That's why that's why I've said several times there's no one being there no

065positions being abolished here tonight by the board of education. There's no no layoff notices going out tomorrow. Why were staff members notified in the middle of her birthday while they referencing educate, inspired. >> We had timeline requirements that we had to meet. So start understand what you're saying right now that's not actually true >> anyone right and so even though there are time even something that that this may happen. >> There was a and again it was a verbal it was a verbal notification that would be followed by a written notification as soon as the board acts. If that is happen at this point, there have been zero layoffs. As far as we are right now, I can't say if they can expect to have a job or not, but there's we're working to make

066sure that as many people as you sorry, >> as it current as it currently stands, there are jobs that could not be back next year. Yes. There's no vote on the budget tonight. >> Oh, okay. >> That was not on the board agenda. >> Um, so considering how There's a proposal to bring a lot of students back who have other types of needs that are coming into the district the way that they have before. I know my kid currently has an IEP and 504 plan and cannot have needs met in the classroom. And that's with mild needs and if we're going to be increasing the number of students that have special needs coming without actually supporting educator development to be able to meet said needs, not to mention support services within the schools. we are

067creating conditions wherein a students actually not only um continue to struggle but actually fail and particularly when we're looking at a district that is committed to onetoone Chromebooks when we know this the first generation that is going to be underperforming their parents because of the learning that is based in technology on tablets and computers. this type of kind of distant and hands-off learning rather than engaged learning. That it's going to be what's even more necessary with students who do not need standardized and very um uh uh structure like very specific um public school structured education systems are not going to actually meet standards today. So my curiosity is why is the continued investment in one Chromebooks and not looking at more holistic and more engaged education uh um um curriculum and how are we going

068to make sure we're supporting all different learning needs in this space rather than just putting on the screen and zoning out on a computer. I think that's a great question and that's a great point. I think that's we we need to analyze our use as far as technology is concerned and and like you said I mean if there are areas where students needs aren't being met we need to know that and we need to step up and change that book. >> No, but I've asked for I've asked for a report on what the screen time is in our classroom. What how much time are we spending using the Chromebooks? How much time are we spending on other ways? I can't say that off the top of my head. >> Yes, she um so my concern

069I guess is a little more immediate. Um I'm a retired person from the school community. I go out every year and vote on the budget and I am so confused about what you're telling me tonight. I want to be an informed voter when I walk in that vote and I feel that there's a lot of apathy about even getting out and voting for a budget and there always has been. So if we're going to encourage people to get out there, we need to have informed voters. And I'm hearing yes, there may be layoffs. No, there may not be layoffs. We're working on when am I going to know? When are you going to be able to tell me what you're reimagining here? What am I going to know before I walk in that room? and

070decide whether or not I'm voting yes or no voting. I mean to me 59 192 anybody who's let go from a position in this district is somebody who's not going to be able to as actively participate in our communities in supporting local businesses. I mean it's a trickle down fact. There is good teaching going on in this district and as a substitute I've been able to see it in a wide variety of classrooms and most of the good teaching I have to say that I see happening is not on the computers. That being said, we need to be able to support the people that are already there with the training that they may or may not be getting already. I see a lot of money that has gone out to the new curriculum to teach

071for a lot of money and I think most of the new curriculum that we're teaching has some type of a screen basis. I would rather see I would rather work to somebody as a parent I would rather have had my child educated by a real life person in a classroom rather than computer science. We have to look at how our kids are losing by doing it. By putting more kids in the classroom and by putting more human beings who have families and who are worried right now about whether or not they have a job. Can I go in and vote knowing how many people are being left over? >> You will >> which is 13 days from today. >> Correct. I have a third in the district and when he positions lost, he looked at

072me and said, "Mom, if you lose 59 positions, does that mean you're getting further in the district students?" And it dawned on him, "What about that dyslexia? It's not their fault. They need help because our district proficiency in elementary school reading level and despite us looking so great on paper but the reality for all of us feel we're not can our reading scores unlock any grand finance that help our reading teachers in our school to help our kids who are desperately in need That's exactly the use our school crew grandch That's what we're putting. That's what we're putting. >> Is there what's the conversation going back and forth to multi three times in six years and with seven times they sold 100,000 a little less than a million. And how are we talking about the

073reality of our students? How can we work together to lobby? >> Yeah, we continue to lobby with with organ with educational organizations, myself, New York State Council, and most of the schools, New York State Council school superintendent. Uh we meet with we meet with our legislators. We go up to Albany, we walk the halls, we do all those things. And and so I know our teacher union does as well. And again, I I said Friday night to a lot of people, local, go local. Go to your go to your assembly person. Go to your state senator. Those are the people to talk to. >> When the district is logging on Facebook, text message asking parents to join specific things for all different things. So yes, I think we knew whether >> and I know our

074teachers union took took buses out last March. So there's a lot of advocacy going on. Are we getting reductions in federal aid next year? >> No, our federal aid is not going down very much. It stays pretty our title funding stays pretty flat. It hasn't gone up very much over here. So, but we haven't seen a reduction in our federal aid. It's our state aid, but we're really taking hits. >> Not not the title and the IDA. It does not which is our title one title two title four all those from the federal federal government >> both may >> yes >> okay um so this is more of a a money question um the 2526 budget was approved and allocated for the school districts but Kingston city school district was put on a freeze in

075approximately February and dis a lot of departments and buildings weren't able to spend their money. I'm just curious if we have a dollar amount on how much that freeze um accounts for and then if that money was just used to fix problems in the 2526 school year or is that money being pushed to the 26 27 school year? as a as a faculty member, it's concerning because I was given money that then was taken from me which directly supports our students. And then as a parent and a taxpayer, I'm also concerned because my student who goes to Kingston is losing um things that they need. And as a taxpayer, I'm concerned about voting yes on a budget when money is moved around so easily. And so I'm just wondering if we have a dollar amount

076on what we saved when we went on that budget freeze and where that money went. >> I don't have I don't have a dollar amount. The point of the freeze, which is not unheard of in districts at certain time of year, they may not put out a whole conversation saying the budget is frozen. What I will say about student needs is this. Nothing was taken away from anyone. People who had their country covered for actual purchases they not made yet. Those are still in place. >> Wait, I'm sorry. Can you I couldn't hear you. But you >> I'm sorry. One second. >> Excuse my back. >> Is this better? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I'm just going to recap quickly. Budget freezes aren't uncommon in districts. They don't usually just put out we're freezing the

077budget. Now, with that said, with the freeze to clarify people, anyone who had since you worked in the district, a requisition, a purchase order in place, encumbering money for a purchase that they plan to make or a field trip they plan to make and just hadn't done it yet, that nothing has been pulled back. In addition to that, to your concern about um students missing anything, people uh we've approved requests for things like field trips that people had planned but just had not encumbered the funds to prevent students from missing anything. So if anybody's missing something, it hasn't been brought to my attention. Any requests that people have raised, they've been brought, they are considered on an individual basis, but nothing at all has been taken back. And I say it that way because in

078terms of the the process, the purchasing process, purchase orders are placed at the beginning of the year, the early stages of the year to lock in the funds to spend certain things like supplies needs for the building. None of those have been reduced or taken back. >> Okay. I I appreciate that um that answer, but I I am going to just um disagree. I had a budget that was given to me as I have had a budget given to me for the last um eight years that I've worked for the district and I was told I am no longer able to spend that money and it's a significant amount of money for resources that I use to support our students >> and I'm not able to do that now. So would that not be putting

079that through if I'm told I can't put it through or am I confused by this? >> No. No, no, I understand exactly your statement and your question. So, what I would say is this. If you have an unmet need, I would suggest taking it to your I don't know if it's a department level or building level in terms of I have an unmet need and then there and that need can absolutely be be brought to the the business office and addressed in a budget hearing. It's not I can't address your specific concern, but if you bring your spe you do work at Kingston City Schools, I'm I understand you. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So then take your specific need to either your building principal or your department. I'm not sure your employment status and I

080don't want to ask in this setting. And if you have an unmet need, then have a conversation because I've had conversations with department heads, building principles because there's no intention to have students or teachers have unmet needs. But there is a budget free. school. So I assume that restructuring of schools across district will counsel >> change throughout the presentation. mentioned a few times that you're buying and so I wonder like maybe we're good this year but now next Let me clarify my statement and you're you're absolutely right and I understand and empathize with what you're saying and why the reason why I say by time is because we had a dire situation or a serious situation I don't want to last year financially and it was communicated there were positions who were due last year

081they were just covered by attrition. The reason why I say it's multi-year because the only way taking an intentional multi-year approach avoids mass cuts, mass um reductions because in going back to our expenses, our largest expense like any employer are people. So to avoid massive reductions in staff, taking a mindful approach and taking advantage of every opportunity we allocate funds. That's why I said it's a multi-year approach. And that's also why I use the phrase of buying time because it gives us time to be intentional and strategic and not just say we need to close this gap and let's just reduce as much staff and figure it out later. If that makes sense. And I I am sorry does not and I understand completely why it does not engender confidence in light of the fact

082that as you stated you're lower on the seniority list but my job and my responsibility is to inform and to tell the truth. So that was my goal tonight. So, >> so we're going to we're going to move on to the board meeting itself now, but there will be time for public comment during the board meeting. Um, it will be a little different than this, but um but there will be time during the board meeting and I appreciate your questions and I thank you for your concern and um we'll move on to the rest of the board meeting. >> Where can people sign up? >> Right here. different sign up until I'm about to go on. I'm going to both know I think I got it. I got it. That's That's the problem. That's the

083problem. That's so I started kind of kind of around people that That's what my question was going to be. Tell me how this is what I hear. >> I'm going to email you. I have a fourth grader if they come. How did you feel that? >> Yeah, in fourth grade going next year and he's still relationship. Heat. Heat. Hello. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Do you We have two actions coming out of executive session B43 approval of an MA MOA. Be it resolved that the board hereby approves the provisions of a supplemental memorandum of agreement between the district and the Kingston Teachers Federation dated May 6th, 2026 setting forth the terms of an early retirement incentive as presented to the board at this meeting. A copy of said supplemental memorandum of agreement shall

084be incorporated by reference within the minutes of this meeting. Second. >> All in favor of BOE43. >> Any opposed? BOE43 is approved. BOE 44 approval of a settlement agreement. Be it resolved that the board hereby approves a settlement agreement dated May 1, 2026 in the matter of an impartial hearing for a student with a disability. And be it further resolved that Mr. Kenneth Poga, director of special education, is hereby authorized to sign this agreement on the board's behalf. >> Second. >> All in favor of BOE 44. I >> Any oppose? The OE 44 is approved. >> Mr. Ryder, >> can everybody hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. I would like to make a motion that we amend the agenda to postpone all committee reports to the next meeting. >> Second. >> All in favor? >>

085Any opposed? So our committee reports will be tabled for this evening. Mr. Ryder, >> I would also like to make a motion to suspend the policy for public speaking to expand uh extend the period for the first public speaking period to 1 hour. Uh subject to extension after the discussion of the president. Second. All in favor of suspending the um public comment policy for this evening. >> Any opposed? So we will suspend our regular rules. Those will be read when we get to that point. We have approval of minutes from the um April 21st, 2026 meeting. >> Second. Any discussion on the minutes from April 21st? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? The minutes from April 21st are approved. We do have several individuals signed up for public comment. Good evening everyone. We are

086about to enter the portion of the meeting where we welcome public comments. Although state law does not require that we hold a public comment period, we feel it is crucial that we hear from our community about their concerns, the board is here to listen. Your concerns and questions may be addressed at a future meeting of the board or you may be contacted by the appropriate staff member or administrator. If you have prepared a written statement and do not have the opportunity to present it, please leave it with the folk of the board who will see that all trustees receive it. Each speaker will have 3 minutes and this public comment period will not exceed 60 minutes in total. We do ask if your comments can be under three minutes that helps to ensure that others

087may have an opportunity to speak. It is important to note that state and federal privacy laws and collective bargaining agreements prevent us from discussing certain topics in this venue, including specific employees or students and pending grievances or negotiations. Any speaker who does not adhere to those these posted guidelines will forfeit the remainder of their time. Thank you for your adherence to the rules and your interest in the continuous improvement of our district. I'm going to talk as loud as I can calling names. I'm going to call the first two first. If you guys can come up to the podium and then the next team that I call will kind of be in the on deck circle to try to keep this going as fast as we can. Bonnie and Eric Good evening. My name is

088Marty Nancy. I'm an educator in the district as well as the president of the Kingston teachers. >> Can you speak louder? >> Um and the president of the Kingston teachers federation. First, I'd like to thank the board for your continued commitment to our students and I recognize that this often is a difficult and thankless responsibility that you have. I also want to thank Dr. Panelino for working with the KTF throughout the process and for his staff for their continued efforts to this day and moving forward till the 19th to continue to try to reduce the number of reductions in our staff. You may wonder why and I heard this a lot tonight why teachers had to be told informally why they now before the budget is done is because our contract says they had to

089be told by May 1st. So that's why people were told to prior um Kingston Teacher Federation understands the financial challenges that >> you really can't really talk to somebody. >> So you guys are behind your speaker. >> Oh. >> So we understand the financial challenges the district is facing this year with deduct reductions of funding. um the end of the art support, the declining enrollment and all the other things that most that you know Sharifa had shared with us. Um and we understand that difficult decisions need to be made, but nobody wants cuts. Nobody wants anybody laid off. And we do understand that moving forward that this is a multi-year process to rightsize the district, hopefully more through attrition than any more layoffs. Teachers are the first to recognize when a student is struggling academically,

090socially, or emotionally. We are on the front lines. In my 34 years as an educator, I have seen our role expand significantly. Teaching is no longer limited to reading, writing, and mathematics. We are now navigating the impacts of technology and broader societal challenges that affect our students ability to learn and grow. Many children entering kindergarten now come without the foundational executive functioning skills necessary to focus, retain information, and engage in learning. These realities make the work of the educator more complex and more critical than ever. I appreciate the district's efforts for maintaining smaller class sizes and keeping programming for our students and by making staff receptions the last resort and looking for other funding so that we can limit those reductions. But most importantly, I would like to thank my colleagues that are being accessed

091for the dedication that they have shown to our students in Kingston City School Districts because we do value you. Even if you will not be here, we do value and we see the work that you've done. So, thank you. And I please encourage everybody to get out and vote yes on the 19th because if our budget goes down, what looks like a bad situation now is only going to be a lot worse. Thank you. Hello, my new Oh, Hi, my name is Eric Cotch and I'm here as a math teacher from Kingston High School as well as a Kingston Teacher Federation representative. Um, this message is for all of us, not only any individuals or groups. Uh, on the I was on the radio one time in my truck listening. Um, and I heard about

092a business with a unique structure, and it was an award-winning business, uh, high rank for customer satisfaction, high levels of morale, low turnover rates, etc. And it was an inverted business model that saw the actual we saw the CEO at the bottom of the framework uh not in salaries but just in structure with the higher level management team just above them and mid-level management just above them until the triangular framework reached the employees which were on the front line at the top of the model. It was unique in which the basis was support and communication. It was like a human pyramid built and if there was no support this thing would topple over. So, what can I do for you? How can I help? Was the essential questions that every row asked the row above

093them. How can I help? How can I assist? Until it got to the top. The frontline workers who knew the consumer buying the product, right? And when those questions reached the top, the frontline employees shared their concerns with blow and and then the issues flowed downhill and got solved along the way. And I thought, what a creative model. And it was based completely on support and communication. There's no question why this business was successful. And this is how I know I've been doing this too long because I said, "Wow, what would that look like in the schools? That would be pretty awesome, right? Cuz we serve a bunch of students. And if we put them at the top and we have this pyramid of people underneath supporting them, what there's no nothing greater than that.

094And then the people closest to the students could relay the messages what they need downward downward until those problems get solved. That seemed pretty simple. I know it's harder to do, you know, than on paper. But why is it triangular? Why does it go like this? Well, salaries get higher as you move down, of course. So, economic dictates that if you have too many in the bottom rows, it becomes financially unsustainable. And I think we're seeing some of that right tonight. But on the contrary, if you do not have enough support below, those carrying the extra weight are going to tire out and get exhausted and weaken and pretty soon this pyramid collapses. So, where's the board of education in this picture of mine? They're the group keeping a watchful eye over the entire structure.

095Triangles won't balance very good on their point, by the way. So, the the board of eds looking for weak spots, but keeping the triangular formation and keeping everything in balance. They must be the continual inspectors of this framework. So, I hope this realigns our focus sometimes and our priorities when we get away from it. And again, this is all of us, including myself. We're all here for the kids and they need our support. That's my will. >> Very well said, Eric. And thank you for Bonnie for speaking as well. Thank uh thank you for having us tonight and for moving the venue to accommodate this amount of people. Happy teacher appreciation week to all the teachers out there. My name is Matthew Gruber and I'm here with Allison Beer and Lauren Forcebar. We are all

096teachers at various levels in the district and proud members of the Kingston Teacher Federation. Layoffs are not an easy topic to discuss. Thankfully, as a district, it has been a long time since we had to confront this reality. However, when describing both last year's budget and this year's budget, one word comes to mind, precarious. Wendellin Warbeck, superintendent of Sority Central School District, was quoted in the Daily Freeman on April 15th as saying, "I want to remind everyone, what I want to remind everyone is declining enrollment does not translate into proportional budget reductions because of the intensity and complexity of student needs and the resources required to meet them have increased. I'm going to pass it along to Allison. Good evening. When considering budget reductions, proportionality cannot be our guiding principle. Applying cuts proportionately would ultimately

097result in greater harm to students. Instead, our guiding principle should be how do we minimize the impact on student learning? Any approach that fails to center students needs risks undermining the progress the district has already worked hard to achieve. Research consistently shows that the greatest impact on student success comes from the teachers and staff who work directly with them. Those who provide daily face-to-face interaction. This proposed budget places the burden of cuts and positions directly on studentf facing positions. Positions like reading teachers are not expandable ro expendable roles. They are the foundation of student success. We have compiled data to the best of our ability using the Kingston City School District website as our main source of information. During the buzz budget presentation on April 21st and this evening, we all saw the graph of

098our student population decreasing. According to the numbers, we had 6,462 students in the 2019 2020 school year. In that same school year, we had 11 central administrators. Fast forward to the 2025 2026 school year, our student enrollment is 5,571 and we have 15 central administrators budgeted. That's an increase of four central administrators with a decrease of 891 students. We recognize that the district is facing significant financial and population challenges and that restructuring through layoffs is an unavoidable step. We are here to ask you to consider whether decisions reflected in this budget leave us in a position to best serve our students. I'm going to pass it to Aser at Kingston High School. I am aware of how important communication is to this district. Our building leaders encourage us to contact home early and often when

099a student is struggling because no parent should find out on a report card that a child failed the class. We are asking for the same transparency in how the district communicates with us. We know that these next few years are going to be some of the toughest that we have faced. But much as parents are often willing to do whatever they can to help their student through, so too are we conveying that we want to be part of the solution. The difficult choices that we are facing do not have to be made unilaterally. At one of the recent board meetings, uh there was a brief mention of eliminating a bus run at the secondary level to save transportation costs which will have farreing farreaching implications across our district. This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate

100across bargaining units and buildings to create the best possible outcome for students and families in this district. A building principal used to tell us, "You do not have to agree with everything that I do, but I will make sure you understand why I'm doing it." Adopting that in my classroom has made a tremendous difference in establishing a culture of trust and accountability, and we're asking the same from the district level. One thing I think we can all reflect and agree on is that this process could be better. And so, as we move forward as a district, our ask is simple. to improve this process. Whether that happens through collective bargaining, earlier communication, greater transparency, or more collaborative planning, we owe it to our students, staff, and community to handle the decisions of this magnitude as

101a strong unified district. Thank you for your time. My next will be Lynn Heath. >> Hi, my name is Malikica Chong and I'm a 10th grader at Kingston High School. Miss Claire is the best teacher I have ever had at KHS. She's kind, trustworthy, and genuinely cares about every student. She provides a support and structure that helps us feel safe and successful while learning. Miss Claire does not deserve to lose her job. She has made a huge impact on my life and helped me turn things around last year. Without her guidance and encouragement, I truly believe I would have gone down the wrong path. She gave me hope when I needed it most and made school feel like a safe place. What is happening to teachers who work directly and support students every day is

102deeply upsetting. Educators like Miss Claire educators like Miss >> You can do it. Miss Claire changed lives and they deserve respect and protection, not punishment because you failed your budget correctly. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. My next will be Erica Brook. Good evening. Um, my name is Lynn Keane and I'm um work at Edson as a STEM lab TA and um I realize that there's not much in my control for my job or what I can do, but I'm going to do what I can do this week uh which is in my control. The last court meeting that I was at, you talked about uh not having state funding, which is huge. And um what I thought, what I came up with is that I started a petition and I made up 50

103copies and I have more for the board if you like and this is what I feel that I can do to help my community. So, it says, "We, the citizens of the New York Kingston City School District, are petitioning, and I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but Governor Kathy Hokll and the Oster County governing bodies to release court awarded school funding to Kingston City School District May 6, 2026. We the undersign call on New York state officials to immediately release the funds that were awarded to our school district following the ruling in 2021. The case of misto state of New York which is considered the small city's case. Despite a judicial decision confirming that our district has been underfunded and is entitled to additional fund foundation aid, these critical funds

104have not been delivered. This delay continues to harm our students, educators, and community by limiting access to essential educational resources, staffing, and programs our students deserve the opportunities and support that we're recognized as their legal right. The failure to release these funds undermines both the court's decision and the promise of equitable education. It ends in concludes with, "We demand that New York State immediately release all court awarded funds owed to our district, provide a clear timeline for full payment, ensure future funding dispersed fairly and in accordance with the ruling." Now, I can stand up here and I can get mad and I can get angry and I can complain and tell them they need to reduce administration. I'm I I'm not going to have any control of that and I know it. But what I

105have control of and what all of you have control of is electing people. And we are here because of our poor choices from the top down. And it's time that we take our city back, our schools back, the funding, the state. And I spent my time on my own researching it all. So can you. I made I researched how to do a petition. So can you. I even made it easy for everybody. I found all the legislators numbers. Your state senator, Michelle Hinchi, people you need to contact. You need to act. You need to come around. Go to your community like I did in your neighborhoods. Get 50, 25 petitions. Let's come together with the board. >> Thank you. baby. >> Okay. >> Amanda O'Neal. >> Good evening. I as well would like to start

106by just saying that I have the utmost respect for teachers and happy teacher appreciation to all of you this week. And it's unfortunate that instead of feeling safe and secure and wanted, you are going through this this week especially. When enrollment is going down, many people would expect resources to be concentrated in the classrooms. But Kingston Central School District has seen administrative growth alongside cuts to teaching staff. We are trying to understand as a community the rationale and how this benefits our students directly. What criteria does the board or the district use to determine the balance between administration roles and classroom teachers, especially during times of decreasing enrollment? Was there an analysis comparing the impact of reducing admin costs versus cutting teaching positions? That leads me to try to understand how Kingston Central School District's

107best decision out of this was to cut 40% of the reading department when only one in three students in Kingston Central School District is considered proficient in reading. To me and many others in this room, that is not a decision that lines up with the goal of improving literacy. It actually runs directly against it. How will struggling readers now receive intervention? Are there alternative supports being put in place or just reductions? My son has had three different ELA programs in his four years at Kingston Central School District. Curriculum instability is a huge factor in low reading proficiency. It should raise a red flag, especially to the superintendent of curriculum. Teachers don't have time to master and deliver one program effectively. Training is fragmented in rush. Students experience gaps in repetition instead of coherent progression. Assessment

108data becomes harder to interpret because the target keeps moving. Students learn better when instruction builds logically yeartoear. Rapid curriculum changes break that coherence. CKLA is a core curriculum, not a full intervention system. It does not support tier 2 and three reading readers. They often need more time on foundational skills, smaller groups or one-on-one instruction, and slower pacing and targeting intervention. Where does that level of support typically come from? Reading teachers and intervention specialists. Again, who will help these level twos and threes with a 40% department cut? One may say CKLA is a solid researched aligned curriculum, but for struggling readers, it works best when paired with strong intervention support. Also, there have been the talks of the TA cuts. I for one can say that I have a son with huge test anxiety. What got

109him through his first year of state testing is his teacher and his TA who put extra time into him to make sure that he felt supported. And these people are not getting the support that they give to our students every single day. How many grant-f funed positions has the district assumed into the operating budget after the expires. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Amanda O'Neal and I'm standing before you tonight, not as just a parent, but an advocate for my child and for so many children like him. I understand that budget constraints force difficult decisions. I recognize that none of you take these choices lightly, but cutting certified reading teachers is not a budget decision. It's a decision that directly impacts our most vulnerable learners, particularly students with special education in our special

110education community. For many children with disabilities, reading is not simply another subject. It is the gateway to all learning. Without the ability to read, you can't fully access the curriculum, demonstrate their knowledge, or build independence, let alone succeed in society as an adult. Certified reading teachers can't be replaced by general instruction or by special education teachers alone. Certified reading teachers bring specialized training, targeted interventions, and the ability to meet students exactly where they are, especially those who struggle the most. For students with IEPs, this issue carries even a greater weight. IEPs are not suggestions or flexible guidelines. They are legally binding documents. They outline specific supports and services that a child is entitled to receive under federal law. When we reduce or eliminate access to certified reading teachers, we risk falling failing to meet these

111obligations. When that happens, the consequences are serious. not just academically but legally and ethically. We we put districts at risk of non-compliance. But more importantly, we fail those the very students the system is designed to protect. These students are not asking for extra. They're asking for what they're they're owed. We often talk about equity in education. Equity means giving each student what they need to succeed, not simply treating everyone the same. Cutting reading specialists harms students who are already facing the greatest challenges. It widens the gap rather than closes it. I urge you to consider what the decision I I urge you to consider what this decision communicates to families like mine. It tells us that budgets tighten, our students needs are negotiable, that the support written in their IEPs could be compromised, that their

112rights to learn, to read are somehow less essential. Please do not let that be the message we send. Instead, I ask you to prioritize solutions that protect these critical services. Explore alternatives, re-evaluate allocations, advocate for additional funding, but do not remove the very professionals who make it possible for struggling readers, especially those with disabilities, to access their education. When we invest in reading, we invest in everything, confidence, independence, opportunity, future success. And when we fail to invest, the cost is far greater than a budget line. Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your commitment to this. I'm Dana Bernett. >> How you doing? >> All right. Uh, my name is Michael Becker. I'm the parent of two children enrolled in the district and the KHS graduate myself. >> I understand budget limitations. I think

113we all do. We're all familiar with making tough choices. But uh while acknowledging that it's tough for me to believe personally that a cut to literacy department of such magnitude is was ever considered a viable path forward. It can't be reasonably claimed that reductions of this magnitude could possibly leave the program intact when the program or curriculum is just a binder on a shelf without the people to instruct or implement it. And the ability to read proficiently is really the access point to every other subject. So, it's difficult to understand how these cuts, if approved, wouldn't have cascading effects on students in other areas. For some students who struggle with this, it could sabotage their entire academic career. There has to be a level of collateral damage that is unacceptable to parents, teachers, administrators, and

114anybody that cares enough about the district to take time and run and serve others. Teachers and teachers assistants are the people on the front lines interacting with students every day. They're the people and positions that should be prioritized in any reductions. They're the people whose names and faces students recognize. I hope we're not here in a year or two realizing that tough choices in this context was just euphemistic language for something more nefarious or self- serving. And if layoffs are an absolute necess necessity, they should be done with empathy and care. Not only for the educators departing but for the educators who remain remaining who will be asked to do more with less. The budget is just a number. The decision and process for getting to that number is a reflection of values. So you

115don't have to tell us what's important or what is a priority. Ultimately you can just show us your budget and we can see for ourselves. Good evening. My name is Dana Bernett. I am one of the um reading teachers who have been notified that I will be excessed effective possibly June 30th. So, I just wanted to like talk to you guys about that. So, first I would like to thank the board members and community members who have voiced concerns regarding the proposed 2026 2027 budget. As a former student, educator, and guardian of children in this district, I am deeply concerned about the decision to access literacy specialists, speech pathologists, classroom teachers, counselors, teaching assistants, and other staff who work directly with students. While I understand that administrators are often required to make difficult decisions, it

116is the educators you hire who implement those decisions and directly shape the academic and personal growth of our students. The proposed reductions raised serious concerns about our district's ability to meet students needs. According to the curriculum presentation in April, the winter 2025 2026 I Ready ELA data shows that approximately 65% of students in our district are reading below grade level. Given that more than half of our students are not meeting proficiency, how can we justify reducing the very staff trained to teach children how to read? Although data suggests that our student population is decreasing, the need for additional literacy support remains consistent, additional data from THE 2024 2025 NEAREST state ELA assessment further underscores this concern. In one school alone, where positions are being accessed, 68.3% of students scored at levels one or two, while

117only 27.6% reach proficiency. These outcomes suggest a need for increased literacy support, not less. All students have a fundamental right to learn how to read. Removing specialists, speech pathologists, teachers, counselors, teaching assistants, AND ANY OTHER STAFF WHO WORKS DIRECTLY with students raises serious equity concerns. Will we still be ABLE TO ADEQUATELY SUPPORT STUDENTS WITH IEPS, 504 plans, and those requiring tier 2 and tier three interventions? The district's mission states, "We inspire, we educate, we graduate all students all of the time. It is difficult to reconcile this commitment with decisions that reduce the number of staff members who directly support student learning. I respectfully ask the board to consider alternative solutions to address the budget shortfall. For example, could the district reconsider the implementation of 1:1 Chromebooks in grades K through eight?" Anyone else? Provides shared

118devices for classroom use. ARE THERE OPPORTUNITIES to reduce spending on non-essential materials while preserving instructional staff? Your instructional staff in this district are very creative and can find ways to teach students. Our schools cannot function effectively without educators and support staff. I urge you to reconsider the current plan and prioritize it. Thank you for your time. Andrea. >> Uh, hello. My name is Jim Shan. I'm a former board member. Um, I would like to make a comment about the uh decline in enrollment. Not going back to 2019. Going back to 2001, we had an enrollment of one of 8 8,163 students. And this year the enrollment is 5,574. That's a reduction of 2589 students. Uh that's more than any other district in Olster County except walk which has 2,671 students. It's more than which is

119the second is the third largest district in the county. Uh 2,287. It's like a whole district just disappeared concentrated in the Kingston City School District. Um, so the levels of staffing that were that we had in recent years, 6 years, 7 years, 10 years ago, it's just not sustainable. Um, and it's not that I don't appreciate the job that teachers do uh in the classroom. Uh, as a matter of fact, I think that Kingston does an exceptional job with educating the students. Uh, I know this year the um, Sal valadictorian and Salutoan are both going to MIT. I know in 2024 there were four students from um Kingston that went to MIT. Uh I'm a graduate of MIT in 1969. They take about 1,300 students worldwide about,00 students in the United States every year offer

120them enrollment. To have four students in 20124 be offered enrollment at MIT out of 25,000 high schools in the country is just off the charts. So, I congratulate the job that all of your teachers do in the district from prek up through 12th grade. It's an amazing job. Thank you. And please support the budget on May 19th. It doesn't do any good to vote no on the budget. It'll just make the problems worse. Next will be Dylan Wall. >> Good evening. I'm Dr. Andrew Gatsky. Tonight I speak on behalf of myself as well as my husband, Dr. Christopher Levki, and our friend and neighbor, Dr. Sarah Franklin. Neither of them were able to be here tonight. We've all lived in Kingston for over a decade. We are parents to students at George Washington and Edson

121elementary schools. All three of us are educators and scholars and we care deeply about the happenings in Kingston City School District. Um I've made some changes based on conversations. Um I don't want to um repeat things that have been said. Um so I'd rather give sort of some of the things that I'm hearing. Um first, there's been a lot of discussion about administrative salaries and how that might be one way to consider helping the budget. One um specific number I have uh I did not look up all administrators, but Dr. Padalino, your salary according to the public record on see through New York is currently $269,000 per year and it is slated to increase to $291,500 during the next school year. The current median household income in Kingston is 68,186 per year. This is an

122astonishing gap. It does not sit well with the community as you defend faculty cuts that profoundly impact our students most vulnerable our our district's most vulnerable students and working families while your wallet continues to get larger on our dime. Um a couple of things I I understand that uh that budget cuts are necessary and that it requires a lot of conversation a lot of problem solving and a lot of compromise. Um, I want to remind the board and Dr. Padalino to make sure that as you consider the new budget, please make sure you are also considering the needs of students who are consistently left out. These include, of course, our students with disabilities, um, who have been mentioned many times tonight, which is wonderful. Um, make sure you're also considering students of immigrant families, students

123who are not um, native English speakers, students who are queer, trans, and non-binary. These are also students who deserve our care um as we think about this budget. Secondarily, one thing that I have noticed through all of these conversations is um uh concerns about edtech and we would request that in the budget when it is finalized that there be a very clear line on that budget about how much we are spending on Chromebooks and on other ed tech software. I am sure that they are very very hefty bills and um as several people have pointed out uh they are um not helping our students with their literacy. Um they are uh not even a useful stop gap. The last point I'd like to make is um I'd like to see a better communication um both

124amongst the board and between the board and the community. At the previous meeting on May 1st, several uh the two newest board members uh said that they had not fully understood what they were voting on um and that they had not understood the budget decisions and other board members uh made it seem as >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Dylan Paul. I have an 11th grader uh who attends Houston High School who've been here for nine years. I'd like to express my gratitude for the board uh for listening to what the community has to say tonight and extended into this period of time. Like many others, I'm here tonight to express my deep outrage and disappointment regarding the recent decision or potential decision to eliminate 59 positions. positions that are overwhelmingly filled by

125teachers, aids, counselors, and literacy staff who work directly with students every single day to meet the students needs. These are not abstract roles on a spreadsheet. These are human beings who build relationships, inspire growth, and shape the lives of our children. Many of them are beloved educators, Miss Claire and others, many others, individuals that students trust, admire, and remember long after they leave the classroom. To discard them is not just shortsighted, it is a betrayal. At the same time, the district's administrative structure, as we've heard, and the salaries have grown increasingly bloated. the proliferation of high level roles such as multiple assistant superintendent of curriculum education, elementary education, secondary education raises serious and legitimate questions. What exactly distinguishes these roles? If curriculum is not at the heart of elementary and secondary superintendent education leadership leadership,

126then what are these positions accomplishing? and more importantly, how can their necessity be justified while those working directly with students are being handed a letter of termination? I wonder if the highest paid administrator's salary has been considered, sorry, I'm going to rephrase that. I wonder if the salary increases of some of the highest paid administrators have been put next to the fact that uh a TA salary, one whole TA salary could be paid for with the increase that some of the administrators have recently gotten or plan to receive. The pattern here is impossible to ignore. Over the past several years, the district has steadily expanded its upper ranks, pouring resources into highly compensated administrative positions. Meanwhile, those who actually deliver education, the people who make this district function, are being cut. This is not fiscal

127responsibility. It's a fundamental misallocation of priorities. There's also a growing perception within the community that hiring practices have favored familiarity over merit and that ineffective and at times deeply troubling leadership has been allowed to persist unchecked. The result is a culture that feels insular, self-protective, and increasingly disconnected from the needs of students and families. It is difficult not to conclude that a kind of administrative club has formed, one that prioritizes maintaining its own structure and compensation over the well-being of the district's children. First, before I start, I would like to um take just a moment to directly apologize to Dr. Catalino. I was a little loud earlier and it's not personal. I actually bite you. So, I do apologize for that. On another note, administrative salaries is a very key big key issue here and

128I was looking at the budget again today. So unfortunately, Dr. Pavle, I'm have to address this. When you came to the district in 2021, you had a compensation package of $171,000 per year. Your current compensation package is $334,38. That's a lot of money. And that's okay. That's okay. But it's not okay when we're talking about cutting teachers jobs. You can't have it both ways. So I think what has to happen here is this board, I spent a year and a half on that committee on the finan committee. I don't ever really recall ever having meetings where we discussed ways to cut unnecessary spending. There's got to be things there that can be cut before you cut a single teacher's job or TA's job. I would urge everybody here to focus on that. Unfortunately, I don't

129think a lot of the board members come with a financial background. Okay? I I was in the automobile business for just shy of 40 years. I was a GM. When the budget was messed up, the owners didn't govern my sales guys and my service department. They came to me. I have to answer the questions. And I think that's where we are today. I just don't, no offense to the board members, but I don't think the majority of the board exception maybe Mark Ryder um maybe Stephanie not sure have a clear understanding of how the budget really works and I think you need to take a hard look at that and Mr. Spicer I would include you in that also. So please um do whatever you have to do. Look at unnecessary spending. There's a lot

130of pages in this budget. There's think I don't know maybe we order too many paper towels. I'm being facicious, but look at other ways to cut the budget before you even entertain the thought of eliminating one single job. Thank you. >> Will be Rosie Burgerer. My name is Ryan Fenner. I'm a teacher, a parent, and a community member. Two district two teachers directly impacted by these cuts are my best friends Claire Stir and Kayla Ichiawa. These are educators who not only inspire their students every single day, but who have inspired me and countless others personally and professionally. They represent, like many others in the district, the kind of ed educators this district should be fighting to keep, not willing to lose. Tonight, I want to speak honestly about the direction this district is taking and

131the impact these these layoffs will have on both staff and students. We continue to say that our mission is to inspire, educate, and graduate all students. But I struggle to understand how eliminating the very people who help students reach these goals align with that mission. What has been especially difficult is not only the layoffs themselves, but the lack of transparency surrounding the budget process and the information being relayed to the staff and the community. Staff members have been left confused, anxious, and uncertain about the future. While rumors spread faster than clear communication, teachers and staff who show up every single day for students were informed during the workday in the middle of instruction that effective June 30th, not possibly, but effective June 30th, that they may no longer have no jobs. These are people who

132mentor students, support students, advocate for students, and often become the safe place students rely on. To reduce them to numbers on a spreadsheet is disheartening. And while I understand budget cuts may need to happen, the cuts are being made in the wrong direction. In any business, you do not cut the people who most directly impact the end product. In education, the end product is our students. These are young people we are trying to mold into capable contributing members of society. It is incredibly difficult to sit in department meetings discussing declining reading levels, literacy gaps, and comprehension struggles while simultaneously cutting reading teachers and literacy support staff. We cannot continue identifying problems while eliminating the people actively working to solve them. That hypocrisy is hard to ignore and reconcile with. These student facing cuts do not

133just impact academic growth. They impact students socially and emotionally as well. The people being cut are often the same people attending games, running clubs and activities, working countless hours, mentoring students, checking in on struggling kids, providing essentials far beyond academics, and creating the relationships that make students actually want to come to school and for some even want to live. For many students, these staff members are not just educators. They are trusted adults when they have nowhere else to turn. They are a safe place to land when they're afraid to fly. Support systems and safe spaces. When we remove those people, we are not just removing positions. We are removing connections, stability, and support from students who need it most. Schools and districts are not built by slogans. They're built by people. They're built by community

134members. They're built they're built by honesty. And that is what we need. And by cutting teachers and studentf facing positions, we are harming our community. And I hope when you reconsider the budget and who we choose to cut, it's not the people directly impacting our students. Thank you. >> Good evening. I am here as a seventh grade student of the Kingston City School District. I wanted to start this by saying happy teacher appreciation week and I love my teachers so much. They have helped me with everything and they are why I'm here. So, I want to talk about that. I know nothing is concrete, but I've been hearing a lot of people a lot of talk about people losing their jobs. I know you have stressed that a lot of this or none of this

135is happening tonight, but because of the budget, we know it's most likely happening in the future. And the people who have mostly been brought up are our teachers. But why are we cutting the teachers who are working with students one-on-one and helping them learn things they don't know? The like motto for Kingston City Schools is about educating. So why are we cutting the teachers that are doing the educating while the illiteracy rates are going down or up whatever getting worse? The rates of neurodeivergent children who need extra help in school are going up. So why are we laying off the teachers who are specifically meant for helping them and helping them learn in the way they need to? >> And because of the budget, I know we do need to get rid of extra costs

136or whatever, but these teachers aren't extra. They're necessary. So if we need to make changes, we have to think about things that like aren't actually necessary. like maybe all the extra administration positions. We have so many. So yeah, thank you all for coming. We can like do this as a community but not individually. That's my kid. I'm a parent of two kids, one at the high school, one at Bailey. Um, I want to not repeat, I know a lot of people said a lot of great stuff. I just Kingston has a real diversity of opinions. Um, and I think it's pretty unique to see such a uniform frustration with this administration and the board of ed's lack of challenging um, while we're all here together supporting frontline staff and teachers and aids. Um, this is

137a room that probably has a lot of opinions. Uh, but I feel like we're pretty unified here and wanting to roll up our sleeves and help this district avoid laying off teachers. Um, I just I think again I don't want to repeat what other people have said, but I think this crisis feels like it was long and coming and really emblematic um of some of the deep issues with communication and sort of failure to build a culture of trust and transparency that this administration has shown and has been really not checked by the board of ed. Um there's been no ability to communicate with families, teachers, and staff to build this culture of trust, respect, and inclusion and recognize that when we actually work together, we can build a better school district. Um the May

138first meeting I watched some of it with and the superintendent was asked if he'd actually spoken to teachers and he said, "Well, no, I I talked to the union." And I think you have a culture where if the leaders and the leaders are talking to each other but not to the people, you become increasingly distant from what's actually happening on the ground and really alienate people. And so I just feel really horrified at how disrespected teachers have been in this process. I can't imagine what it feels like in the middle of your workday to be told you're fired, but then maybe you're not fired, maybe you're we don't know because nobody can tell you anything. Um there seems to be nothing to address morale. I mean this and this goes back to I think about

139like during COVID when teachers were forced to teach in the buildings. I know no other school district that made teachers do that. Um it feels like it was punitive and again disrespectful. So I just really want to see a district where we can actually respect each other as a community and respect the teachers. And then I just want to underscore uh solutions that other people have brought up. Absolutely. Looking at administrative salaries. one administration. This administrative salary seems like it could cover four positions given the disparity in pay, the bonuses that have also been referenced. Couple things. I Ready. I don't know how much I Ready costs, but I know that there's a huge class action lawsuit against I Ready for data mining and stealing our kids information. Like, do we have to pay for

140that? Could we save money with that or other curriculum? And I think the final thing I just want to say for all of this is we do have a board of election vote as well. And I've really appreciated some of the newer board members for asking questions for the first time in a long time and I hope we're paying attention. I think the the only other thing is it seems like we could wait until June 16th and maybe do some more work on this budget that wasn't made clear, but I think we also need some answers moving forward. If if the community is not satisfied with this budget with cut firing teachers, can we redo it and come back with something better on June 16th or whatever they said that was thrown out. We don't

141actually know what they answered. Is still here? >> John Bon. I'm I'm John Melon from K Kingston, New York. Um I came here this evening uh to ask you to increase the eligibility of seniors for property tax relief. But what I'm going to do is send you my notes by email. Uh, I just wanted to say I I I understand that per you you have a perfect storm that you've talked about here tonight and I know a number of seniors are also facing a p perfect storm of increasing property taxes, uh, income being stable and costs going up. So, I think that is something that we need to address as well. But the bigger thing that you've pointed out tonight is this really sustainable for our schools. I think it's time for us to all

142pull together. I think it's time for the county, the municipalities, the school district, and the citizens to do what we need to do to let people live here and not be priced out because of property taxes and give our kids a great education. Thank you. Thank you. Don't That brings us to >> Yeah. I don't know if you have information to share. >> Uh the majority of the report obviously was part of the budget hearing. I just want to remind the board of a couple positive things here. Then um we have our senior events coming up for the class of 2026. Um June 8th we have their senior awards right here at Kingston High School auditorium 6:00. Um June 9th we have senior athletic awards. also here enjoying our fieldhouse. >> There's a there's a

143just a social hour at 5 and the ceremony at 6:00 and 6:13 is the prom at the chateau. Starts at 5. >> 6:17 our seniors do their walk through the elementary schools. If you haven't seen that, that's something you should go see. It's at 10:30 in elementaryaries and 1:00 on our at our uh middle schools. The baloria, we don't have a date or a location yet, but I'll let everyone know as soon as we do. And lastly, we have uh graduation the stadium on 26th at 5:00 p.m. >> Are there any board members that have questions for the superintendent? >> All right. Oh, Dr. K. Sorry. talking. This is not related to your announcements. Um, this is related to the expectation that we would be voting on abolishing um potentially voting on abolishing positions tonight

144and I recognize that we're not doing that. Um, my concern or question is that if we don't do that until May 20th, there's two things I have on my mind. One is that voters are voting for a budget when they don't understand the ramifications for individuals. And the second is that if the board were then to vote not to abolish like to not approve those abolishments, we are put back into a feedback loop then as I understand it. So my I guess my question is what happens at that point? Um, if on May 20th the board did not vote to abolish those, then you then go back to the drawing board. I assume >> is that >> the budget the budget that were voted on last week is isn't is the number, you know, it's

145the dollar figure of expenditures. It's not how that money is spent in the in the inside of it. And the board can direct administration to do whatever you would like to direct us to do within that dollar figure. If the board comes to me on after the budget passes on the 20th and says we're not going to approve these these abolishing these positions, it's up to me and the administration to go back to like go back to work and find a way to stay within our budget. So I guess Ierned the time like >> um I understand what we voted on and I understand at least it's nice to hear you confirm that my understanding about going back to the drawing board is also correct. because you have to meet the budget that we have

146approved. Um I think my as much as I was not looking forward to grappling with the very difficult issue of positions tonight I'm concerned that putting it off creates a new time lag in the in the system. So for how long then is it the next board meeting then that we come back with a revised budget and it and at that point I'm just wondering what happens because then again we have teachers who don't know where they stand. I think I I understand what you're saying, but I also think we aired on the side of not putting people through the through the process of saying, "Yes, you've lost your job." And then in the next 2 weeks be able to be working on some of the things we're working on and then say, "Oh, yeah,

147by the way, no, yeah, now you can come back." So, I I guess we really he on the side of trying to be um to to act in kindness and not do that to people. I know I know there's some people on the that are on the fence right now, but if we had acted tonight in the boss positions and then found them found places where we could reestablish those positions, we would wait till the next board meeting to tell them that too. So, it's we think we're still working. We think there'll still be reduction in of the initial proposal for for um cuts and you know, we'll present to the board and I'll have that information to the board for before the next board meeting. Um, it could be the board must have a

148special meeting to act on that at that time if that's the case, but we we will be ready to give that information sooner rather than later. >> I'm also concerned with what Dr. Collins had to say because the later that people get notified, the less chance they have of finding a job. Now, the other thing is a question for either you or um Mr. Carpon. If we go to a contingency budget, you said, I believe, that it's a 0% increase, correct? So, in 5 years, we're going to cause another $14 million hole in our budget. And the $14 million hole that's already been created in 2021 is going to continue to grow. Am I correct with that assumption? >> Yes. Yes, you're correct. Except the $14 million figure would be much higher because our tax

149leer because our budget numbers are higher. So the tax le is higher. So it's um it would be higher than that as it moved its way up the process and you know extrapolates over years. >> So it continues on the district. >> Yes, >> Mr. Riner. I I understand the concern about pushing it off to the next and I'm available to meet at a special meeting between now and before the budget if that's what board members want to do. I think not having the resolution come before us today was the right call. As Dr. Pilino said he's continuing to work. And when I looked at the board packet on Monday, Tuesday, and then again today, the resolution not being there, I'm just going to say like when it is time for us to vote, if

150we don't have 48 hours to review this resolution, I will most likely be a no. And so I appreciate that we had extra time because I wouldn't have supported a resolution that came into our library today. So I I get that we're in a bad circumstance cuz we're pushing it off, but we need to have the information more than you know 6 hours before the vote or 12 hours or even 24 hours before the vote. >> Couple of questions. So and just help me confirm my understanding. one. Well, we can receive a line by line edited budget to review prior to far prior to the 19th, not the 20th, the 19th. That budget will take into consideration these staff positions. But the other two pieces that the public has lifted up that they'd like to

151be thought through include administrative positions. um non-unionized literacy positions and technologies. And so those seem to be from tonight the areas on the budget that there's a lot of desire for detail on. And so I'm curious if there's not a way for the administration to provide not just the line by line, but instead of sort of this what what I think is a brilliant macro analysis that Miss Carbon shared with us, but the process and thought behind some of those line items that the public so deeply desires to understand better. So again, not just the teacher positions, the non-unized support positions around literacy, the admin positions and the increased dollars and positions. Um, and then technology. Um but just in terms of process itself, just walk me through one more time what's the best we

152can do so that we get the information within 48 hours so we can actually internalize it but also that we can share something back with the public so that they can internalize to be a 36 page document. We just need to help pull out some of the most important stuff. >> I'm sorry. What was the you said you said the teachers and then you said another Did you say non >> the non teacher union? >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> Okay, that's what I didn't understand. Thank you. No, I we've we heard the concerns and that we can provide answers and processes to communicate with you well beyond 48 hours before the next time we meet. And it's it's a simple thing that we can do that >> and the public. >> Yeah, we can I

153mean I think there I think we there is a communication needs to go out overall as we get closer to finalizing everything that we're doing and with explanations. Um the line by line budget is online. It's it's up there for the public. Anyone can have it or that wants to go find it. >> Dr. Collins >> along those lines. It seems um the last time we met that you mentioned that you think a lot about the math as you're sitting in your office and talking to your team. Um, and there's a lot of that goes into the class ratios and the case loads. And is there a way to make my guess is that it's through that math that led you to the solution that you've proposed, which is um from the outside it looks

154like a disproportionate loss in our reading as opposed to other departments or other types of staff in the district. And is there a way to make that math a little more transparent to us in terms of what are the case loads, what will they be, and how does that compare to the areas that were not cut. So as much um at least proportionally speaking. So, it may be very well that those numbers made perfect sense to you, but from the receiving end, I think the disproportionality is what we're hearing a lot of um curiosity and concern about. So maybe in the next I don't know if you can speak to that now if you're prepared to do that or if in the next time we meet when we do have explain the abolishment of the

155positions at that point that are on that um agenda then a very clear explanation of the math behind those would be really helpful. Um, I first want to acknowledge because we're tight on time that I really um appreciate the bravery of the young people that spoke tonight and I think they deserve to be um highlighted um and praised for that bravery. Um the next thing is I think it's a critical responsibility of the school board to instill confidence in our community about the budget. I want to be very clear. I knew the number I was voting on and I knew how that number was informed generally. I felt like that was explained very well. What I did not understand because I did cite this in the last meeting was the depth of knowledge and discovery

156and questioning that I assumed right that's my my bad that happened in finance and audit as a committee. Um, now now that I understand that part, it does not change the trajectory of our input and influence with the superintendent who is ready to be very collaborative with us about how we prioritize how that budget should be spent. I think it is really important that we distinguish those two so that we can instill confidence in the community to vote yes on the budget so that we're not in another crisis related to our financial circumstances while also instilling confidence that we are here at the table. Everyone is at the table and ready to talk about the story that the budget tells. And I think you have to really define those two things separately. The budget is

157a story. It tells what we prioritize. It tells how we're investing. And I agree with Mark. I think we do need to schedule a meeting, but I also think that that meeting might have to be an executive session if we're going to talk deeply about personnel matters. And to me, when we get into this granular level level of detail where we talk about the impact that faculty and staff are having on student life, curriculum, the school experience. We really need that depth of knowledge to hear the story that has and was discussed on an administrative level. I know it exists. I'm sure it exists. I know the amount of hours that went into this work by our administrative team. I think we need to hear those details to understand how what the plan is, what

158it was to respond to these um various cuts. So I just would like to request that we do have that meeting and properly ask the questions ahead of time to give adequate time for them to prepare to give us the information we need to start discussing it in greater detail and understand the story of where our district is going. um when listening to everything we heard this evening and also some of the things I reflected on uh we there's a appropriate uh concerns were raised about the delivery of literacy instruction. So I think what would help people to understand um with any proposed cuts would be an explanation and again whether it comes to the full board or teaching and learning about what the plan is now that we uh have started full implementation of

159a strong quality tier one literacy instruction. What is the plan for really addressing effective tier level two and tier 2, tier three reading interventions because I think if a plan was explained on how what we envision happening, how we're going to meet those student needs and also how the plan that's in place will be implemented and monitored to ensure that those students students will continue to receive the need the interventions they need so that they actually will no longer be a level 3 2 1. So I think when um discussing this if we have an explanation of what our vision is on the instructional delivery side and then how we're going to ensure that's effectively implemented and monitored so that we are continuing to meet the needs of all students. I think that might help.

160And again, whether that should come to the teaching and learning committee meeting or whether it should come to the full board, but both are public um forums where people can um hear that information. Any other questions or comments for Dr. Patalino? That brings us to well we're our student representatives have to say good night so we'll hear from them at our next meeting. It brings us to our consent agenda. Are there any items that trustees would like to have pulled from the consent agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Any discussion on the consent agenda? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> So, our consent agenda is approved. Can we just note that there are a number of retirements that are part of that and that we want to thank those

161people for their service to our service. >> Thank you. We do have donations. >> Okay. Thank you very much for your all these wonderful donations. The board of education at the city Kingston City School District hereby accepts with grateful appreciation the following generous donations. Sorry, I almost said it wrong again. To Mahar Preschool from the Box Tops for Education program, a check for $110. Thank you. To Meer Elementary School, two donations from the Meer PTA of $900.35 to support school field, excuse me, field trips and $10.30 from Box House for Education for a total of $910.65. Thank you so much. And finally to M. Clifford Middle Miller Middle School where we are tonight from Miller Craft Fair Committee 34 fans valued at $1,96945. Thank you so much. Thank you. We agreed at the beginning of

162the meeting to table our um committee reports. So that will move us to old business. Any old business? Hearing none, that'll leave us move us to new business. >> Again, hearing none, we have um board member announcements, >> kind of a board member. So, I know Mrs. course referenced the retirees on their board agenda tonight and I do want to also say I appreciate the work and the commitment of all those retirees but I do want to just single out Miss Bonville who has put in for his or her retirement and for serving and putting up with me here for 14 years and a few years before that when we worked together in one of so um congratulations I think everyone in cabinet expressed they're happy for you but we will miss you So uh

163again thank you and congratulations as we see your graduation graduation your retirement. Any other board member announcements? I would like to just recognize that this is teacher appreciation week and um despite some of the feelings we heard tonight, this board does appreciate our teachers and all of our staff and our administrators. Everyone is doing their best for our students and we appreciate all of that work. Thank you. brings us to our second public comment session. Is there anyone who would like to address the board? That brings us to our N. >> You are here to speak. people have come to me in my community and I'm just kind of like a advocate I guess and I go around and I talk to people in my development my community I'm encouraging people to vote okay I

164know this is nothing you have control of but when they ask me I want to have an answer for them and I want to have a a true answer for them not hearsay so it is very well known that we have a very high L population and it went up um it was 156 to 586 2023 2024 like 284% increase of which we have nothing control over it because we have decided to be a sanctuary city and state right so with that people do the math and they see how much they go on and they see how much they're getting paid there's 29 employees for the LS there's seven I think social workers that we have bilingual social workers So, I'm going to keep up with the figure of 2,586,000 something. I forget what it

165was. Is that an appropriate amount of money that we are spending to educate the undocumented immigrants is what they want to know. And I don't have an answer because I'm not on finance and I don't know. So they see and this is exactly what one person an elderly person in my community told me that how could they lay off teachers and not address that humongous amount of money and I don't have an answer. So what what I know New York State we have to it's the law. So what is your answer to that person? I don't even know. >> We don't answer back. >> Oh I'm sorry. Okay. So that's just something people are wondering. So, if you ever get it out there or find a way to tell us, that would be great. >>

166You've been heard. >> You have been. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Second. >> All in favor of >> Thank you for hosting us tonight. >> Thank you. >> It's like